Eric Bischoff Says WWE & AEW Exist Today Because Of How WCW Pushed WWE In ’90s

Eric Bischoff believes that the way that WCW forced WWE to change its approach in the ’90s is why both WWE and AEW exist today. Bischoff made the comments on a special live episode of 83 Weeks on Wednesday in the wake of Ted Turner’s passing. Bischoff, of course, ran WCW under Turner and was directed by the media mogul to compete with WWE, which led to the Monday Night Wars.

During the episode, Bischoff talked about how WCW put WWE’s backs against the wall which forced Vince McMahon to change WWE’s approach by going live and targeting the 18 to 49 demographic. That of course led to the Attitude Era and one of the hottest periods that wrestling has ever seen. You can see highlights below (per F4W Online):

On How WWE’s New Direction Changed The Industry:

“Those two decisions [by the WWF], going live and pushing for 18 to 49, are the only reason that WWE exists today. It’s the only reason that AEW is on a Turner Network today. Had Vince not had WCW curbstomping him for 83 straight weeks, really over a period of two years consistently, they would not exist. He [Vince McMahon] came out and said, ‘OK, we’re not going to do this anymore. We’re not going to insult our audience’s intelligence.’ That was how the Attitude Era was born.”

On WWE’s Pivots At the Time:

“WWE is now live weekly, that’s one big pivot, the other one was going after the 18 to 49 year old audience with the over the top approach that he [Vince] took to it [in the late 90s], which obviously worked. Those two things are the only reasons WWE exists today… I can’t wait for somebody to argue with me about it.”